body count

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body count

The general reviewed the daily body count report.

Definition
  1. Noun:
    • A count of the number of people killed in a specific event, operation, or period: "Body count" refers to the total number of deceased individuals, typically resulting from a violent incident, military action, or disaster. It is a factual, often grim, numerical tally.
Usage
  • The term is most commonly used in military, law enforcement, journalistic, and disaster reporting contexts to quantify fatalities.
  • It is a neutral term in reporting but can carry a somber or critical connotation when discussing the human cost of conflict or tragedy.
  • It is typically used with a determiner (the, a, an) or a possessive (our, their, the daily).
Examples
  • Noun:
    • The general announced the operation's body count to the press.
    • After the earthquake, the body count continued to rise for days.
    • The newspaper published the body count from the weekend's violence.
Advanced Usage
  • "to keep a body count": to maintain a running tally of the dead.
    • The aid organization struggled to keep an accurate body count as refugees arrived.
  • The term can be used metaphorically in extremely informal contexts (e.g., competitive gaming, sales) to mean a tally of "kills" or successes, but this usage is highly casual and not standard.
Variants and Related Words
  • Casualty count (n): A broader term that can include both killed and wounded individuals.
    • The casualty count was higher than the body count alone suggested.
  • Death toll (n): A very close synonym, often used interchangeably with "body count" in news reports about accidents or natural disasters.
    • The death toll from the hurricane reached into the hundreds.
Synonyms
  • Death toll: The total number of deaths resulting from a particular cause.
  • Fatalities: People who have been killed.
  • Number of dead: A more plain description.
Related Phrases
  • To run up a body count: (Idiomatic) To be responsible for causing many deaths.
    • The ruthless warlord was accused of running up a horrific body count.
  • The final body count: The official, conclusive number of fatalities.
    • The final body count from the factory fire was 24.
body count

The general reviewed the daily body count report.

Noun
  1. a count of troops killed in an operation or time period
    • the daily body count increased as the war went on